Chiapas, Mexico
 

For more information about the Chiapas ministries and how you can participate, contact Bob and Kathleen Campbell at 586-3817.


Don’t Walk in Front of Me,
I May Not Follow –
Don’t Walk Behind Me,
I May Not Lead.
Just Walk Beside Me –
And Be My Friend.

Spiritual Retreats In Chiapas

Walk with them… in their family lives.


Corazón de Chiapas or Heart of Chiapas is the name of our spiritually focused retreats to Chiapas, Mexico. Since 1994, retreat groups from Spiritus Christi have traveled to Tuxtla Gutierrez, the capital of Chiapas, to live and walk in solidarity with poor families in this region of the world. What occurs in this experience is a "meeting of the hearts." Participants stay in the homes of host families who, in their extreme simplicity, provide for our basic needs with warmth and generosity. Listening to their stories of life's struggles and sharing our own, reveals our common humanity as members of one family. Embarking on a Corazón de Chiapas retreat is answering a unique call to discover the gift of God's love within the poor and within ourselves


Pena Blanca

Walk with them… in their hopes.


Since 2002 Spiritus Christi has been learning to walk in solidarity with the 49 families of Pena Blanca. Carved from the jungle near Guatemala in 1981, it is like many subsistence-farming communities in the region. The village is remote and divided politically. The people have few ways to earn money, leading some to leave their families and seek work in the U.S. Medical and educational facilities desperately need help. Members of our community have witnessed the poverty and the frustration caused by the lack of medical facilities. Through the Pen Pal program between the children of Spiritus Christi and Pena Blanca, we have also seen the joy and hope of the children. We hope to be able to walk with the people of Pena Blanca as they implement their dreams for better health care and schools.

Located in Southern Mexico, the state of Chiapas is home to about 4 million residents, many of them indigenous people. An uprising by several indigenous communities in 1994 to protest the takeover of their land by wealthy landowners caught the attention of the world. The struggle for economic justice and basic human dignity continues today.













Chiapas Retreat, 2009

Las Becas

“Walk with them…in their education.”


LAS BECAS is a scholarship program which is presently administered by Gloria, in Tuxtla Gutierrez, Chiapas.


Through this program, Spiritus Christi provides financial support for up to 22 children during the school year. The scholarships allow their families to buy needed school supplies as well as school uniforms, shoes, lunches and transportation to and from school. This scholarship is for children in the public school system of Tuxtla Gutierrez, Chiapas.


An application is completed by their parents and a lottery is held to pick the winners. It is expected that the children will attend classes regularly and maintain good grades. LAS BECAS is open to the children of families who live in one of the three colonias where retreatants live and visit while in Chiapas.

Scholarship Recipients of the Las Becas Program 2009

Gloria, Administrator of Las Becas in Chiapas, with students

MANOS AMIGAS

“Walk with them…in their childhood dreams.”                                         


MANOS AMIGAS ministers to the street children of Chiapas whose families are unable to care for them. Here they find a loving home environment with provisions for their basic needs such as: food, clothing and medical care, as well as spiritual nurturing, education and job training. Padre Renato Rondolini has been the spiritual director of these orphanages since their inception in 1988.


Retreat groups from Spiritus Christi visit with the children of MANOS AMIGAS orphanages both in Tuxtla Gutierrez and in San Cristobal de Las Casas, offering them friendship and helping hands. We continue to build a relationship with the children of this not-for-profit organization with our visits and gifts of clothing, school supplies, sports equipment, medical supplies, and monetary donations.

Padre Renato with children of Manos Amigas

CIRSA “Walk with them…in their work. In 2009, we began a relationship with a farmer-owned coffee producing co-operative called CIRSA, located in the highlands of Chiapas. CIRSA is a “trading partner” of Equal Exchange, a fair trade co-operative and the supplier for our monthly coffee sales at Spiritus Christi. All proceeds from our coffee sales go to support the indigenous coffee grower families of CIRSA. Recently, Spiritus Christi initiated a project, and was joined by Equal Exchange and other congregations around the country, to support the cost and construction of brick and cement stoves. The stoves provide a healthier way for the indigenous coffee grower families to cook by directing smoke and soot out of the kitchen through an exhaust chimney. The design of the stoves, by University students, lends to a more energy efficient way of cooking with wood, a precious resource of the area.

Before and after Stoves...


Open fire vs. new stove with exhaust chimney.


        YOU CAN HELP, FROM HOME!!!

                BUY  A  CHIAPAS  STOVE!!!!!